advice on new condo

1st - review what the unabated taxes will be.
2nd - see if the sponsor is subsiding the maintenance charges to make them low for the first yr or 2.
3rd - check the builder's record on other projects they did.
4th - get an engineer to walk through the apartment and the other areas of the building.

final - realize that your apartment will be worth significantly less when you plan to sell, because you'll be paying out of your nose in property taxes once the abatement wears out and in maintenance because you let a union in who allow the super/doormen/porters to do nothing and collect a small fortune. you will be in the same situation as all others who said "I have 15 yrs and will worry about it later." then later comes and ....

yes check recheck and check again the bylaws on everything. Once you move in and you're hit with fees for just blowing your nose you won't be surprised.

Even if the building doesn't have an abatement, if it is still under construction and has interim taxes, the taxes could jump. In my friend's building, the budgeted taxes for her unit were $12k/yr and by the time the building was completed and assessed, her taxes ended up being $25k/yr. Compare projected taxes in offering memorandum with taxes assessed at similar new construction.

I have quite a few properties involving with new development.
You don't need an engineer as they are newly built and "should be" upto code. In case of a building/unit defect, you have upto 1 year from the date of closing to file with the sponsor.
Bringing in an engineer will not change anything because they will likely report what they see, unless you want to do a full blown report which may take days and may not be approved by the sponsor.

ab_11218 makes a good point about checking the sponsor's record on other projects, as well as its unabated taxes.

Don't worry about the maintenance as they will creep up 15-20% after sponsor is out of the picture. The good news is, you can get rid of the unionized staff under the new condo board and pay them by the salary without the benefits.

oops...i meant, pay them by the hour without the benefits.

renterjoey hit the nail on the head. As someone that self managed my building- you wouldn't believe how few people have read the bylaws and prospectus. If the other owners had read them and taken the time to understand them- they would have saved themselves lots of frustration. I realize it's dry reading material- but they are there for a reason.

i would definitely get an engineer in. my friend, during the boom, was about to purchase a top floor, 5/6, condo. the engineer found that even in an empty condo building, the water pressure was pathetic. he also found a few other issues that made her run away.

Find out the status of any property that could impede your views or light. Including the condo building you are buying in. EG, if you are on a lower floor make sure about the landscaping planned and get it written in your contract.

ba294, if the staff is already unionized, the board can't just arbitrarily fire them all and start over. See the contract at http://www.rabolr.com/sites/default/files/2010%20Apartment%20Building%20Agreement.pdf. There's some kind of provision to cry poverty and reduce staff, but you'd better get a labor lawyer before making any big-bucks assumptions about what you can do.

If the staff isn't unionized, they can always choose to be.

>if you are on a lower floor make sure about the landscaping planned and get it written in your contract.

Then what?

New constructions always have problems, be they delays or other issues. I would not bother with an engineer, because often you won't be able to see the problem. But a pipe will burst somewhere, there will be problems with this. The promised fitness centre will take 3 years to materialize. Having a new unit is great, but I would try and find a unit that has been up and running for a few years, has sorted out its problems and can give you certainty about costs. Otherwise, just take a really close look at the reputation of the developer.

NWT, from my understanding of new developments, once the sponsor is out and the condo board is established, you CAN get rid of the unionized staff without any consequences. I think the timeline was upto 1 year from the sponsor's exit.

once the union is in, it's in. good luck getting rid of it.

I agree with Ottawanyc, Engineers can't see the problem more than you can. Floors, walls, appliances, etc are all new and it'd be hard to judge what is beneath the floors/walls.

When doing the walkthrough, spend the time to thoroughly examine, including the water pressure. Create a punch list, and demand to be fixed immediately. A lot of times, things go unnoticed during your walkthrough but it can be resolved after your closing.

I've had flooring problem after my move-in as well as bathroom leaks. All were taken care of within reasonable period of time. My recent new development purchase was based on the sponsor's track record, and it proved to be dead-on in terms of their prompt service.

>once the union is in, it's in. good luck getting rid of it.

Yeah at best you end up with a 20 ft guard rat.

BTW, this is probably the best one ever
http://www.sofreshandsogreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/giant-rat.jpg

Of course those rats are likely, Made in China

Yeah for me it was a pipe blew up six stories up and ran down and caused flooding. No way engineer would have been useful. But in a new construction something is going to go wrong, so just accept that and make sure that the building is not made super cheap. Read about some of the crap that went up in Williamsburg if you want to see some horror stories about cheap construction. Otherwise, as BA Baracus says, be super anal on the punch list. Write down every stupid little thing and it should be fixed. Not the time to let things slide.

>Otherwise, as BA Baracus says

Americans just call him Mister T.